We've written that NVIDIA is eying the purchase of ARM, several other parties already have shown interest as well. The one company that has remained silent about it all is the owner, Softbank. And they've just confirmed that ARM indeed is for sale. 

Masayoshi Son, CEO of the Japanese group SoftBank, confirmed during a conversation regarding their quarterly figures that the company is contemplating selling Arm. Selling the entire company or part of it is an option, says the CEO.

A second possibility is to bring the company to the stock exchange ahead of schedule. Arm previously has been listed on the stock exchange, but when SoftBank bought the chip designer back in 2016, the company withdrew itself from the stock exchange. It then committed itself to bring back stock exchange in the year 2023. That can be brought forward, says Son.

NVIDIA would be in advanced talks to purchase the company, but legislation might be an issue as NVIDIA would become very powerful, as ARM holds a number of cross-licenses and patents.   A takeover of Arm by Nvidia could be difficult due to competition rules. Then again, that goes for any company due to the sheer size of ARM itself. 

SoftBank now also confirms it is exploring to sell ARM